


slow down the gravity

by svatantrata



Category: LOONA (Korea Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Aliases, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Spider-Man Fusion, F/M, New York City, mentions of Academic Decathlon, side heejen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-18 13:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18250361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/svatantrata/pseuds/svatantrata
Summary: Here’s the thing about spring—roses are red, violets are blue, and Jaemin realizes that he is afoolwho has a crush on:A)Hyunjin Kim, the girl who refuses to speak a word to him,B)his in-ear assistant, a disembodied companion who could be operating from Tucson, Arizona,orC)all of the above.Hey, at least he’s graduating from high school.(Meet Jaemin Na, certified Mess and New York City's very own Spider-Man.)





	slow down the gravity

**Author's Note:**

> [i'm talkin' bout you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hC8wu2pbJw)

If Jaemin had no assistance, he would be screwed. Currently, the situation is dire. There’s three unidentified thugs, one identified thug that works for Mysterio (yikes), and him: Jaemin Na, seventeen years old, New York City’s very own friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Yeah, he has just as much faith in the situation as the average New Yorker, which is to say, not that much.

“Go right,” his in-ear assistant tells him. “Then swing over their heads and I can shoot at them for you.”

As a minor under Taeyong Stark’s company, Jaemin is obliged by law to have someone looking out for him when he’s going through missions. His in-ear, Doyoung, has saved him from catastrophe more than a couple of times.

Jaemin dodges one, two, three bullets—”thanks for wasting your ammo, guys!” he says cheerfully, because he loves pissing off henchmen—and then shoots out some web to swing back around.

“Alright,” his in-ear mutters. “Three, two, one—”

The sound of gunshots rings in Jaemin’s ears. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to bear it for too long before the thugs are hopelessly incapacitated.

“Hey, thanks, Doyoung,” Jaemin says, walking away from the alleyway. He’s ready to start his route back home, where he can finally get started on his AP Chem homework and, hopefully, get through a good chunk of his _Why NYU Stern?_ essay.

“Huh,” the in-ear assistant says.

Now, no longer focused on beating up the thugs, Jaemin almost freezes out of shock. The voice. _The voice_. It’s nothing like Doyoung’s frantically scolding tone, more—soft, and soothing, and even somewhat deadpan.

“Oh,” Jaemin says. “You’re… not Doyoung?”

“You think?” she replies dryly.

 

 

 

It’s not like Jaemin ever _wanted_ to be a superhero—not that he is much of one right now—or anything. Like most of the things in his life, his origin story is 1) dumb and 2) mostly an accident.

It was a dark and stormy night. On the day before—

Yeah, no. So here’s what really happened:

It was the summer before freshman year, and like all other summers up till then, Jaemin spent his days with Donghyuck and the other kids from his apartment complex. Now most of them go to Stuyvesant, whereas Jaemin has to take the train over to the Bronx High School of Science every morning. If anyone’s asking, Bronx Science is the best high school out of all the boroughs, even if the Stuy kids think that they’re _all that_ and a bag of chips.

It’s cool, or whatever. It just kinda sucks that the one person besides his _mom_ who knows that he’s Spider-Man is always too busy studying or debating or “partying it up” like it says on Donghyuck’s Snapchat stories.

But anyway: Donghyuck, being Donghyuck, had dared him to get off at the 191st Street station on the 1 Line. Jaemin wasn’t scared of subway stations, not really, even though the 191st Street station has the most disgusting smell known to mankind _and_ he had to walk through a quarter-mile of dank tunnel before meeting the light of day.

During the train ride to the said subway station, Jaemin managed to connive Donghyuck into getting off with him. It hadn't taken much—just the smallest bit of whining and Donghyuck soon succumbed to his pout, grumbling about it the entire time.

“Oh my GOD!” Jaemin had shrieked, mere minutes after getting off. “What the hell—”

“Shh, it’s just my hand,” Donghyuck had replied. The dark tunnel echoed with their voices. It made Jaemin feel more queasy, if that was even possible. “Don’t be such a baby—”

“Seriously, Donghyuck,” Jaemin interrupted. He winced at the sharp sting at his ankle. “Stop pinching my leg.”

“I’m not pinching your leg—”

As it turned out, Jaemin had been bitten by a radioactive spider. It took two years, a lot of tears, and Taeyong Stark to figure it all out, but by the end of it, he was Spider-Man.

 

 

 

Mostly, Jaemin’s a normal kid though. He tries to be, at least. He’s on the Academic Decathlon team (the B division, because he can’t be fucked to have a high enough GPA), he’s struggling with his double AP sciences (Chem is a lot easier than Physics, for sure), and he’s definitely Going Through It with college apps (no comment). Now there’s the mystery of In-ear Girl added on to all of that.

He wonders what happened for Doyoung to stop being his in-ear. _Did he get fired?_ Nah, unlikely; he’s too damn good at his job. _Did he finally get tired of Jaemin and quit?_ Always a possibility.

“So, Jaemin—” Mr. Qian says, giving him a smile that could kill a weaker human, “since you’re so very _engrossed_ in the class, why don’t you answer the next question?”

 _Shit._ Jaemin looks up from where he had been staring holes into the blank page of his notebook. _Fuck_ AP Physics.

“Um…” Jaemin starts, reading over the problem. _A 3.0 kg mass moving at 30 m/s to the right collides elastically…_ What the shit?

The girl next to him, wide-eyed, nudges his foot. Jaemin looks over surreptitiously—the perks of Spider-Man, right, having enhanced vision—and sighs in relief.

“The answer is 10 meters per second?” Jaemin says, trying his best to sound like he knows what he’s talking about.

Mr. Qian squints at him suspiciously. “Very well,” he says finally, turning back to the board. “That’s correct.”

Jaemin heaves a sigh, slumping low in his chair. He’s home free for today.

Once the bell rings, Jaemin turns to the girl next to him. She’s packing away her stuff, dainty fingers moving carefully over her Muji pens—Jaemin’s into stationary, and Muji pens are a little basic, but at least she has _taste_ —and her notebook. He tries to recall her name—he’s seen her with Heejin, a couple of times, and he _thinks_ her name might be Hyunjin.

“Thanks for saving me back there,” he says, voice hushed. “I really knew jack shit about what was going on.”

She freezes, turning to regard him with wide eyes.

“Hyunjin, right?” Jaemin continues.

She nods, snapping back into action. She shoves the rest of her stuff into her backpack quickly.

“It’s nice to meet you—” Jaemin begins. Before he can finish the sentence, Hyunjin’s _gone_.

"Huh," he says to himself. As far as first impressions go, this one was pretty fucking weird. 

 

 

 

“Okay, but are you a human?” Jaemin asks. He punches, a quick sequence of hits that would have his childhood Taekwondo _sabom_ rolling in his grave, before dodging some blows himself.

In-ear Girl’s sigh crackles through the connection. “Yes, I’m human.”

“I don’t believe it,” Jaemin says, grinning to himself as he jumps above a kick aimed at his legs.

He’s finding that the more he riles her up, the more she reveals about herself. So far he’s got that In-ear Girl is, in fact, a girl, is younger than Doyoung, and likes cats.

One of the henchmen lands a punch on his side. “Ah, _shit,_ that hurts like hell.”

“Jump left, then swing back,” his in-ear orders. “Three, two—”

Jaemin jumps early for the hell of it.

“Prove it,” he adds, as he soars through the air. “Prove that you’re human.”

“I was _not_ paid for this,” she mutters underneath her breath.

“For real,” Jaemin insists, running up the side of the nearest building to drop a kick from above. The sickening _crunch_ that results is oddly satisfying. “You might as well be Siri or something.”

“Alright.” In-ear Girl hums for a moment. Maybe she says something more, but Jaemin can't make much out over the shouts of the annoying _miscreants_ —thank you AP Literature!—that he's fighting.

Suddenly, Jaemin begins to hear a dog barking in the distance. He startles, pausing for a second to look around him—he's a dog person, okay, and puppies are _cute_ —before realizing that the noise is coming from his in-ear device.

“What the fuck?” Jaemin asks incredulously. He jumps to dodge a bullet, almost a little bit too slow, and he can nearly feel the side of it flying past his legs. "They let you work with your _dog—_ ”

The barking is soon replaced by laughter, as clear as Jaemin’s alarm clock in the morning and a thousand times more pleasing to the ear.

“That—that was me,” she replies. “You seriously couldn’t tell?” Her tone shifts to become brisk and businesslike: "Jaemin, climb up on the left side. Three stories at least."

"Yeah, I really couldn't," Jaemin replies, shaking his head. He's never heard an animal impression more oddly realistic. He obliges in the orders, crouching against the wall of another building then clambering up to have a bird's eye view of the scene.

"Let's get this over with," In-ear Girl murmurs, voice diabolically sweet. Jaemin struggles to suppress a shiver.

With Jaemin's in-ear assistant, it isn't too long before he's walking away from the scene, humming to himself and wiping his hands off on his suit. Most of his missions are pretty low-key, for now. Taeyong wants to wait till he turns eighteen before he starts fighting in the big leagues.

Jaemin starts to swing his way back to his apartment in easy arcs. There’s nothing but the wind whistling past his ears for a moment or two.

“Well, do you think I’m real?” In-ear Girl asks after a couple of seconds, almost smug.

“Of all the weird-ass talents to have,” Jaemin replies. “I caught a bullet because of you!”

"Need I remind you that the Spider-suit is bulletproof?" she replies archly. "You still didn't answer my question."

“Of course I think you're real,” Jaemin says, shuddering. “No artificial intelligence could produce a sound that—animalistic.”

“ _Jaemin—_ ” The sound of her exasperation makes him smile to himself.

(When his mom asks Jaemin during dinner why he’s so happy, he shakes his head and grins down at his plate of leftover kimchi stew.)

 

 

 

Every couple of weeks Jaemin has to stop by headquarters to go through routine check-ups. Taeyong has a therapist hired to make sure that Jaemin doesn’t get “adversely emotionally impacted by the stress of being a superhero at a young age,” or something, and the technicians make sure that Jaemin’s suit isn’t malfunctioning or anything.

Usually, these visits are pretty tedious. Yuta, the therapist, always makes Jaemin respond to his own questions instead of offering any answers himself. Taeyong usually vacillates between trying to be stern—it never works—and his usual state of cautious worry.

Right now, Taeyong is neither of these things besides _annoyingly_ secretive.

“What do you mean, you can’t tell me who my in-ear is?” Jaemin asks, confused. “I knew Doyoung’s name—”

“Doyoung isn’t even his real name,” Taeyong says. He covers his mouth, realizing what he said. “That’s beside the point. Jaemin, I can’t reveal sensitive information—”

“She’s literally responsible for my life, isn’t she?” Jaemin challenges. “Don’t you think I deserve to _know?_

Taeyong sighs, rubbing his temples. “You’re such a teenager.” He sighs, staring down at his desk for a couple of moments. “Okay, I will say this: she is a very talented intern at Stark Industries. I refuse to reveal anything more.”

Jaemin may be pushy, but he knows when he’s met Taeyong’s limit. He changes the topic.

“So why did Doyoung stop being my in-ear, then?” he asks.

“That, I can answer.” Taeyong smiles grimly. “We’ve recently added a new recruit, and he’s… precocious. We decided that he needed more supervision than you, hence the switch.”

“Precocious?” Jaemin repeats. “Is he in elementary school or something?”

“No, no,” Taeyong replies. “But yes, he’s fifteen.”

“Damn.” Jaemin tries to remember what it was like to be a tiny sophomore. He had been a lot shorter, that’s for sure.

“Why do you care so much about your in-ear, anyway?” Taeyong asks suddenly, almost amused.

Jaemin narrows his eyebrows. He’s used to Taeyong’s trick of asking suddenly about an unrelated question to shock the truth out of him, but the use of it right now confuses him. There’s nothing for Jaemin to hide, is there?

“She seems pretty hype, I guess,” Jaemin says. Hopefully, Taeyong doesn’t know what hype means and he can just leave.

“Hype?” Taeyong raises his eyebrows. “I’m not up to date with this slang and whatnot.”

“It’s nothing,” Jaemin says quickly, smiling tightly. “Can I leave now?”

“Of course.” Taeyong stands up, walking him out the door. “You’ve done really well this month, Jaemin,” he adds. “Feel free to focus on college apps for the next couple of months, alright?”

 

 

 

Ah, college. It’s so funny, how naive he used to be. In the beginning of freshman year, Jaemin swore to himself that he’d never do anything solely for the sake of college, that he’d never do anything that he doesn’t actually like. For the most part, he’s gone through with that—granted, being Spider-Man and suffering from spider-bite related issues doesn’t exactly give him time to boost his resume—but there’s one part of his day that is incongruous to his philosophy.

And that, _that_ , is Academic Decathlon.

Jaemin doesn’t have any other words to describe it besides _mind-numbing hell,_ really. Memorizing over a thousand pages worth of information about the 1960s isn’t exactly his idea of a good time.

“It’s not _that_ bad,” Jeno had said, when he had relayed the same message. “At least it’s kinda interesting?”

Jeno’s the reason why he joined Academic Decathlon in the first place. Granted, Jeno actually has to study for it—in the A division, there’s legitimate competition in the form of Heejin Jeon and Hyunjin Kim—and definitely has it worse in terms of how much he needs to prepare before every competition.

It feels odd if Jaemin thinks about it for too long. When both of them joined in sophomore year, they had been near inseparable. Now, Jaemin spends most of his time being Spider-Man and catching up on all the homework he’s missed.

Sometimes, when he’s swinging back home, he’ll see Jeno walking from the library with Renjun Huang or Heejin Jeon. Jeno’s almost perfect in how exact he manages his time, from Academic Decathlon to his 4.0 GPA to his place on the varsity swim team. Jaemin, certified Mess, doesn’t fit within the neat boxes of Jeno Lee’s overbooked schedule.

They aren’t _not_ friends, is the thing. There’s really nothing to be upset about—Jeno still sits next to him if they have the same classes, still waves hello to him in the halls—but it’s just _weird_.

Case in point: when Jaemin sits next to Jeno and Heejin during Academic Decathlon practice, he can’t help feeling as if he’s the odd one out. It’s almost uncomfortable, and the realization that Heejin’s probably closer to Jeno than _Jaemin_  makes his heart beat uncomfortably fast in his chest.

It isn’t the type of nervous feeling he gets before a test, no; it’s a _stupid_ nervous, a destructive nervous, a feeling that renders him dysfunctional.

Jaemin turns away from Jeno, looking over to his right. Hyunjin’s sitting next to him, typing away furiously at her phone.

Jaemin’s never really talked to her, but ever since that encounter in AP Physics a couple of weeks back he’s noticing her everywhere: her hair whipping through the air during gym class, her smile spotted from across the cafeteria as she talks with Heejin, the studious curve of her mouth as she pays rapt attention during Mr. Qian’s boring lectures.

Okay, he’ll admit it: Hyunjin is attractive. And Jaemin’s exactly the type of self-destructive person to have a crush on someone 1) ridiculously pretty and 2) ridiculously smart. He’s not quite there yet, but it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge.

“Hey, Hyunjin,” Jaemin says. He tries for his most charming smile, hoping he doesn’t come off as too overt.

Hyunjin looks up. Her lips press together as if she’s struggling to contain a smile. She waves at him; it’s a weird feeling, to be waved at by someone sitting less than a foot from him.

“How’re you doing?” Jaemin asks.

Hyunjin shrugs, then looks back down at her phone. A couple of moments later, Mr. Dong announces the start of the meeting. Jaemin’s too masochistically absorbed in the way Jeno whispers to Heejin to think much of how lackluster his interaction with Hyunjin had been.

 

 

 

The rest of fall passes by in a flurry of Common App Essays, awkward emails—he misspelled his mom’s name on the Common App, how much more dumb can he _get?_ —and an itching sense of restlessness that comes from not being Spider-Man for more than a couple of weeks. He finally gets around to writing his _Why NYU?_ essay, submitting his early decision application on November 1st.

Jaemin got a recommendation from Taeyong Stark himself and doesn’t have the worst set of extracurriculars on the planet—side-job as Spider-Man notwithstanding—so he _hopes_ he has some chance of getting in.

Jaemin misses wearing his Spider-Man suit. He hasn’t talked to In-ear Girl in a while, but his meetings with Hyunjin have started to get more and more strange. First, it was just in AP Physics—

“Do you wanna be partners for the next project?” Jaemin asks. “I know I look like I don’t pay attention, but I actually have a pretty decent grade—”

Hyunjin shakes her head. _No,_ she mouths.

“What, you can’t talk?” Jaemin asks, confused.

Hyunjin nods, then mimes coughing into her elbow.

“Alright…” Jaemin says, turning to find Renjun in hopes of being partners with him instead.

But then, when Jaemin had sat down next to Jeno at the school library, Hyunjin immediately got up from the table and left.

“Does she hate me?” Jaemin had asked Heejin. “Legit, she kinda walked away when I asked her to be partners with me for the catapult project.”

Heejin frowned in thought. “I think she just has to go to work, and stuff,” she said. “She got this pretty important internship recently, and it’s taking up a lot of her time.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense,” Jaemin replied uneasily.

The most recent sighting is the oddest. Jaemin’s walking through the lobby the Stark Industries building, ready to leave after his latest check-up with Yuta, when he spots a flash of shiny black hair in the corner of his eye. The sight is fleeting, the elevator doors closing before Jaemin can take an actual good look.

Here’s the thing: Jaemin would trust his spider-bite-enhanced vision if he didn’t have hallucinations of weird-ass shit for a week after being bitten. Sure, Taeyong and his doctor both agreed that he had a 99.97% chance of never experiencing them again, but a nonzero chance is still a _chance._

Still, Jaemin figures there’s a chance it’s true. Either way, the foolish part of his brain convinces him it would be a good idea to message Hyunjin about it.

Like all kids in their grade, she has a Facebook. Jaemin spends a minute or two scrolling through her profile—there’s nothing he hasn’t seen before, given that he spends a self-indulgent three minutes every couple of weeks scrolling through her timeline—before messaging her.

_You waved at Hyunjin Kim!_

**Jaemin Na:** Hey were you @ Stark Enterprises yesterday? at like 3 pm??  
**Jaemin Na:** I think I saw you :o

Hyunjin replies almost instantaneously.

 _Hyunjin Kim changed her nickname to Hyunjin :o_  
_Hyunjin Kim changed your nickname to Jaemin n__n_  
**Hyunjin :o:** haha what??! i had soccer practice then

Huh. He would’ve sworn he overheard Chaeyeon complaining about how Hyunjin quit the soccer team this year due to her internship, but maybe he misheard.

 **Jaemin n__n:** Ok lol  
**Jaemin n__n:** What’s w/ the n__n  
**Hyunjin :o:** thats the face u make whenever u try to talk to me  
**Jaemin n__n:** …  
**Jaemin n__n:** I mean… you always yeet off so yeah

This time, Hyunjin takes a couple of minutes to reply.

 **Hyunjin :o:** im sorry  
**Hyunjin :o:** im fine with messenger tho?? so yea  
**Jaemin n__n:** Ok lol

It’s been a record of five minutes since they started talking to each other, and Jaemin isn’t willing to let go of this lead.

 **Jaemin n__n:** What’s your favorite animal?  
_Hyunjin :o is typing…_

 

 

 

“Damn, how late did you sleep?” Renjun asks, lightly patting the top of Jaemin’s head. Their teacher is always late for 3rd period AP English, and Jaemin’s never been more grateful for the five-minute reprieve from _thinking._

Jaemin yawns, head still resting in his arms. “Like, um, four?”

Renjun groans. “Was it League again?” he asks. “You’re, like, obsessed.” That’s Jaemin’s default excuse when anyone asks him why he’s exhausted after Spider-Man excursions. In reality, Jaemin hasn’t played League since middle school.

“No, actually,” Jaemin says. He hesitates, wondering if he should tell Renjun. He wants to tell someone, at least, since he’s finally successful after weeks of failed attempts at conversation.

“Then why?” Renjun frowns. “I thought we agreed to slide during second semester.” They both got into NYU Stern, and, well—so long as Jaemin doesn’t get Cs, he’s _pretty_ sure his decision won’t get rescinded.

Jaemin stretches his arms out behind him. “Believe me, I’ve been sliding,” he says. “I was actually talking to—a girl.”

Renjun raises his eyebrows. “You slid into someone’s dms?”

Jaemin slaps Renjun’s shoulder. “Not like that! But… I guess?”

Renjun’s silent for a moment, considering. “That’s good,” he says slowly. “I know you were stuck on _him_ for a while—”

Jaemin slaps Renjun’s shoulder again, then massages the spot lightly. “We don’t talk about that,” he says, already starting to feel a blush rising on his cheeks.

“But, hey, maybe this’ll go well,” Renjun continues. “Senior year flings and all that, right?”

 

 

 

Jaemin decides to go to In-ear Girl for advice, mostly because she doesn’t actually know him so _hopefully_ he has less of a chance of getting embarrassed, but also in part because he wants to hear her reaction to it all. There’s a hypothesis forming in his mind, fledgling and vague, and he needs to figure out whether he should continue incubating the idea or not.

“So there’s this girl I like,” Jaemin says, in the middle of shooting web to tie up the criminal at hand. It’s a robber this time, and not even a particularly smart one. He hates to admit it, but he’s starting to get _bored_. It’s dark out, too, and Jaemin’s starting to feel the cold winter air freeze around him.

In-ear Girl splutters. “What,” she says. It’s a statement, not a question. “Why are you talking about this.”

Jaemin shrugs, before realizing that In-ear Girl can’t see him. “Can’t exactly talk about it to anyone at my school, so. It’s a lot easier to talk to some random stranger.”

“Some random stranger, yeah,” she says under her breath.

“Her name’s Hyunjin,” Jaemin says carefully, waiting for a reaction.

In-ear Girl doesn’t reply for several moments, quiet breathing barely audible.

“I’m not paid for relationship advice,” she says finally, tone even and calm. “But whatever, go off.”

Alright, maybe not then. Jaemin rolls out his shoulders as he continues talking. “So she never wants to talk in person, but she’s, like, always active on Facebook and down to text on Messenger? Is that normal?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“I don’t know, you seem smart about this sort of thing?” Jaemin walks out of the alleyway. The streetlights are dim enough for no one to recognize him as The Spider-Man, but he’s also leery of swinging around without being able to see much. Once he walks past a block or two, he’ll be able to start shooting his web out again.

“I’m _not,_ ” In-ear Girl replies. “But… are you sure that you even like her? How do you know what she’s like if you’ve never talked to her in person?”

“She’s totally my type,” Jaemin says, grinning. 

“What’s your _type?_ ” she sounds completely incredulous, yet almost—amused. It’s nice to hear.

“Girls who are really smart and can 1v1 me in soccer,” Jaemin says. He hesitates, before adding, “Guys, too, though I’ve really only liked one.”

He scales up the side of a brownstone, pulse racing. No one’s really a raging homophobe in Manhattan, but still—

“Oh, alright,” she replies, humming. His heartbeat settles, and he soon falls into the regular rhythm of shooting web and swinging.

“What about you?” Jaemin asks. _Shoot, swing, shoot, swing._

“I don’t really have one,” she says. “I haven’t had a crush on a lot of people, really.”

“There’s no common trait?” he replies. As he’s swinging, he recognizes voices from down below. Is it—

Jaemin skids across the surface of the nearest building, legs bent to slow him to a stop. In-ear Girl’s saying something, but he isn’t listening. He’s too focused on the conversation taking place underneath the yellowish streetlights.

“You don’t need to walk me home,” Heejin says, looking down at the ground. “It’s kinda late.”

"Are you sure?" Jeno asks. 

"I don't want to force you to," Heejin replies. 

“But I _want_ to,” Jeno counters. He’s smiling at her in that incredibly charming, heart-stopping way, and the two of them are holding hands, and—

Jaemin starts swinging again. There’s something about overhearing that conversation, the sort of soft affection that’s only meant for two pairs of ears, that’s just awkward. And Heejin? Jeno and _Heejin?_

This only shows how far they’ve grown apart. The last time he and Jeno had discussed crushes, Jeno still harbored a one-sided affection for Mark Lee and Jaemin was still (poorly) trying to deal with being in love with his best friend. Now, there’s no romantic feelings; just a sad nostalgia for their old friendship.

“Jaemin?”

Oh, right. In-ear Girl’s still here, probably wondering why he had been blanking out for the past five minutes.

“Did you hear them?” Jaemin asks.

“Yeah,” she replies.

“One of them—he used to be my best friend,” he says. “But I think being Spider-Man is… It’s hard to have time for people.”

He’s close to reaching his apartment, now, just barely outside their brownstone in Brooklyn. The streets are covered in ice, dangerous and shiny and reflective of all the things Jaemin doesn’t want to face.

“Of course it’s hard,” she says. When Jaemin exhales, a little puff of air visibly exits his mask.

“Of course it’s hard,” she repeats. “But I also think you could make time if you really wanted.”

He doesn’t respond for a couple of moments, just breathes. It’s so cold that it hurts to think. Maybe he’s been standing still for too long.

“According to the GPS, you have reached your residence,” she says. “I’m going to go now.” With a beep, she disconnects from the line.

Jaemin is left with nothing but silence.

 

 

 

As with most of the important things in his life, he ends up talking to Donghyuck about it. They “Facetime” each other while doing homework, though Jaemin’s the only one actually showing his face because Donghyuck can’t be fucked with figuring out how to prop up his phone. (“It’s okay, your face pops up enough on my Instagram feed.” / “Like you’d ever tire of me, dumbass.”)

“Okay, so I get the crush on Hyunjin part,” Donghyuck says, after scouting out Hyunjin’s VSCO (of note: Hyunjin’s selfies with her dog and her group photos with the varsity soccer team, for obvious reasons). “But why are you so hung up on In-ear Girl?”

“I don’t _know,_ ” Jaemin says. He’s not ready to reveal his inkling of suspicion. Donghyuck’s no Renjun; he doesn’t play game with conspiracy theories. “She gave pretty good advice, too, the other day.”

Donghyuck hums. “About what?”

“About—” Jaemin hesitates. “About Jeno, and stuff.”

“ _Oh._ ” Donghyuck pauses. “Did you follow it?”

“Not yet.” Jaemin’s considering it, though. Now that the deadlines for regular admissions are over, all of the seniors are pretty stress-free. There’s really no reason for him to _not_ shoot Jeno a text on Messenger and suggest they hang out sometime.

“Alright, I don’t know if you want another opinion—”

“You’re going to give it anyway,” Jaemin points out. “Might as well just get on with it—”

“I am. _Damn,_ so impatient.” Jaemin can almost _hear_ Donghyuck rolling his eyes. “But anyway, just focus on trying to talk to Hyunjin? Like maybe In-ear Girl is part of Witness Protection and needs to keep her identity a secret, or something.”

“Witness protection?” Jaemin repeats incredulously. Maybe Donghyuck _is_ game for conspiracy theories. “What’s this, a Disney movie?”

“But seriously,” Donghyuck insists. “You’re Spider-Man, not Sherlock. Do you really think anything good will come out of knowing who she is?”

“It’s not about knowing her _identity,_ ” Jaemin stresses. “It’s about—her. I just want to know her better.”

“Are you talking about Hyunjin or In-ear Girl?” Donghyuck asks, after a moment.

“Both,” Jaemin sighs. That’s when he knows he’s fucked.

 

 

 

Jaemin finds Jeno exactly where he’d expect: in the school library’s silent section.

“Hey,” Jaemin whispers loudly, trying his best not to feel as if he’s in some version of reality-television ASMR, “are you busy?”

Jeno pulls out an earbud and shrugs. “Not really,” he replies quietly. Despite their whispers, the nearest librarian gives them a stern glare.

Jaemin shifts his weight from one foot to another. “Wanna talk outside?” he asks.

Jeno nods. He’s clearly confused, just going along because Jaemin had suggested as such, but that’s part of the reasons why he appreciates Jeno so much in the first place.

The hallways are pretty silent during the middle of a period like this. There’s a couple of kids chatting by the lockers down the hall, a teacher walking around downstairs with obnoxiously loud high-heels.

Jaemin sucks in a breath. _You could make time, if you really wanted,_ In-ear Girl had said. Hyunjin gave the same sort of advice when they messaged yesterday—they’ve gotten into a habit of having nightly text conversations—and ultimately, as Hyunjin had said, he really doesn’t have any reason to _not_ try to fix things.

“So,” Jaemin starts, feeling hesitant for possibly the first time _ever_ when it comes to Jeno Lee. “How’s everything?”

Jeno hums. “Pretty chill, I don’t know,” he says. “Are you ready for the Acadec meet?”

Jaemin groans. “Hell, no.” He looks down at the floor, tracing the tip of his sneaker around the checkered tiles. “So, uh… is there anything new going on?”

Jeno raises his eyebrows. “Actually,” he leans closer to Jaemin, whispering in his ear, “Heejin asked me out last week?”

“What?” Jaemin replies, hoping he sounds more shocked than he actually is. “So you guys are a _thing?_ ”

“No, I mean, yeah, I mean,” Jeno takes a breath. “She doesn’t want her parents to know yet so we’re keeping it kinda quiet.”

“Oh, okay,” Jaemin says. “But you’ve liked her for longer, right?”

“Beginning of this year, I’d say,” Jeno replies. He looks down, then back up again to Jaemin’s face, eye-contact direct and earnest. “I’m… sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but I was kinda stressed with college apps and all of that.”

“Yeah, of course.” Jaemin can feel the relief pouring through his veins. It’s like stepping in front of a sprinkler on a hot summer day. His worries dissipate like steam in the sun.

Jeno bites down on his lip. “So what about you?” he asks.

Jaemin shrugs. “What _about_ me?” he replies.

He wishes, not for the first time, that he could tell his best friend that he was Spider-Man. But for now, this is enough: like the slow coming of spring, the flowers blooming out of snowmelt, his friendship with Jeno will thaw.

 

 

 

When Jaemin takes the train back home, he goes through his usual routine of putting his earbuds in, blasting the Rap Caviar playlist on Spotify, and opening up the Messenger app to text Hyunjin. There are already a couple of notifications waiting for him:

 **Hyunjin :o:** how did it go  
**Hyunjin :o:** :oooo

Jaemin hums as a Lil Dicky song comes on.

 **Jaemin n__n:** Good haha  
**Jaemin n__n:** Your advice worked :)  
**Hyunjin :o:** yay!! i told you u could make time for things if u really wanted ^_^

Her words sound like an echo of what his in-ear had told him last week. _Could it be…?_

Jaemin scrolls up through their conversation from last night. It takes a couple of minutes—blame Hyunjin for starting the debate over which version of BTD is better—but he reaches the point in their conversation when Hyunjin gave him advice.

 **Hyunjin :o:** there’s no reason not to fix things  
**Hyunjin :o:** hope this works out!! lmk how it goes ^_^

 _But I also think you could make time, if you really wanted._ Jaemin closes his eyes, considers it for a moment. His phone buzzes with a new notification.

 **Hyunjin :o:** u still there?

Jaemin forces the thought out of his mind, entering the password to his phone.

 **Jaemin n__n:** Of course I am

 

 

 

With the eventual encroachment of February comes the ramp-up of the Academic Decathlon season. Jaemin’s best events are usually the ones for which he doesn’t have to study; his interview is always charming, his speech impeccable, his essay so expertly bullshitted that the graders end up giving him a high score anyway.

His objective subjects are a lot worse. The music from the 1960s sucks absolute _ass,_ including the Beatles; reading the Literature or Social Science packets gives him war flashbacks to AP Lit and AP US History, respectively; and don’t even get him started on the _abomination_ that is Economics. He hates that Pareto efficiency bullshit with a burning passion.

Jaemin’s in the middle of flipping through the Science packet when his phone beeps three times.

 _Shit._ He doesn’t even have to look at his phone to know what the notification is for:

 **STARK AUTOMATION:** Report to the intersection to Tilden Ave off of E 34th St. BACK-UP NEEDED for Unidentified Employee 020502.

The message is a bit different than normal; usually, Jaemin doesn’t give back-up to other superheroes, given how… volatile his beginning years were. Instead, he confronts pesky villains—well, their henchmen, at least—who are named by their criminal serial-number-like QR codes at the supermarket.

Jaemin swings through the city frantically, In-ear Girl giving him background information all the while. The setting sun renders everything a red-purple-blue, and it makes him feel as if he has stepped into a kaleidoscope.

“The superhero in need of back-up is Jisung Park,” she says. “His assistant is Doyoung—”

“ _Doyoung?_ ” Jaemin asks. So he’s about to meet the sophomore who stole his in-ear assistant away.

He lands in the middle of a scene with a flourish, waving grandly. It’s a mess, but the three men surrounding green-caped Jisung Park gape at him in astonishment.

“Miss me?” Jaemin asks grandly. Sometimes he feels as if being a superhero is half-bravado, half-luck; right now he’s hoping his voice doesn’t waver with the stress he’s feeling.

“Spider-Man!” Jisung calls. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“The same to you, young padawan,” Jaemin replies. “Though the circumstances are… less than ideal.”

His eyes move quickly to absorb the situation. Two of the men have their guns trained on him, the other one keeping watch over Jisung.

“Now’s not the time to fool around,” In-ear Girl hisses.

“No shit,” Jaemin replies. “Are they robbers?”

“That’s what they suspected at first,” she says. “But it’s… something deeper.”

One of the men trapping Jaemin by gunpoint speaks. “You move,” he says, voice rough, “and I’ll shoot.”

Jaemin doesn’t move; not yet, at least. Instead, he stands in one spot, shrugging his shoulders. “Alright,” he replies loudly. “Not like it matters that much!”

“Coordinating with Doyoung,” In-ear Girl says at the same time. “Move in three, two, one—”

Jaemin jumps into action.

 

 

 

“Jisung’s a lot better than I was, at that age,” Jaemin says, once everything’s over with. He takes the leisurely route through Brooklyn, his path snaking around city corners. He wonders if In-ear Girl has noticed, if she’ll even say anything about it. 

“It’s so weird, isn’t it?” she replies. “Fifteen… It feels like so long ago, yet just like it was yesterday.”

“Maybe it’s just because I’m a senior,” Jaemin says, “but I’m starting to get nostalgic about it all.”

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“I got into NYU, early decision.”

“Alright.”

Jaemin pauses for a moment, crouched against the side of a brownstone. It’s starting to get warmer, the streets covered in water and melting sludge, and even the air itself seems to smell like _change._

“I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this,” she says. “But I’m also a senior, and I’m—going to Columbia.”

Jaemin immediately thinks of Hyunjin’s Facebook post from late December. He’s scrolled past the _COLUMBIA CLASS OF 2023!!!!!!!!!_ post so many times that he remembers the number of exclamation points by heart.

“Damn, you’re smart,” Jaemin replies. He shuts his eyes and tries not to imagine Hyunjin, face lit up by a computer screen, lips speaking straight to his heart.

“I guess.” She’s silent for a moment. “You know… you haven’t brought up that Hyunjin girl in a while. Have you gotten over her?”

He smiles at that. “I’d rather talk about you instead.”

“How flattering,” she deadpans.

“Seriously, I mean it. You’re actually—” Jaemin breaks off, unsure of what he was about to admit.

“Actually what?”

“Actually, I don’t know,” Jaemin says, brushing it off. There are some things he wants to hide to himself, even in the dark intimacy of the evening.

 

 

 

Spring begins in earnest, and with it comes the impending _end_ of Jaemin’s senior year. He does alright at the last Academic Decathlon tournament, winning first place in Speech and Interview. Jeno’s the state champion for the second year in a row. Heejin commits to NYU, Jeno to Columbia; Jaemin agrees to third-wheel them on a date and doesn’t feel like a third-wheel at all; and pretty soon they’re finishing up AP testing.

“Can you believe it?” Jaemin says to Hyunjin, after the AP Physics exam. “We’re _done_ with this class.”

Hyunjin shrugs—her usual response to anything Jaemin says in real life—and walks away. If anything would be a metaphor for Jaemin’s love life as he sees it now, that would be it.

Here’s the thing about spring—roses are red, violets are blue, and Jaemin realizes that he is a _fool_ who has a crush on:

 **A)** Hyunjin Kim, the girl who refuses to speak a word to him,  
**B)** his in-ear assistant, a disembodied companion who could be operating from Tucson, Arizona,  
or **C)** all of the above.

Hey, at least he’s graduating from high school.

 

 

 

“I can’t _believe_ this,” Jaemin grouses in between punches. “I’m going to be late to my high-school  _graduation_ because of this bullshit—” he ducks a blow, then flips in mid-air to drop another kick.

“Believe me, this was _not_ my decision,” In-ear Girl— _probably_ Hyunjin?—In-ear Hyunjin responds. “Let’s just make this quick, alright?”

It’s a perfect day. The skies are clear and the sun feels so bright that it makes Jaemin sweat a little. He was supposed to be at the football field _thirty minutes_ ago for graduation, and at this rate…

Such are the downsides of being Spider-Man, right?

Jaemin grimaces. “Let’s _do_ this.”

 

 

 

“I’m sorry, you don’t have tickets.” The usher—Jaemin’s almost certain that he’s seen the kid in his AP Chem class, the fucker—keeps staring at him, unimpressed.

“Tickets?” Jaemin asks, voice rising in volume. “I’m the one graduating, come on—”

He’s wearing his graduation gown messily, tie half-askew underneath the blue cloth—thank _fuck_ no one can see it right now—and he’s late to his own graduation ceremony. Jaemin thinks he has a right to get pissed.

“Do you have your student I.D.?” the usher asks. “I’m sorry, it’s just a security concern—”

“Don’t worry, Chenle,” someone behind him says, stepping forward to press three tickets into the usher’s palm. “He’s with me.”

“Taeyong?” Jaemin asks. “You’re _here?_ ”

“Wouldn’t miss it for a thing,” Taeyong replies, smiling.

Hyunjin’s standing behind Taeyong, eyes cast on the ground. She’s running her hands through strands of her hair, fingers flexing nervously.

If Jaemin had any lingering doubts, seeing Hyunjin next to Taeyong has washed away all of them. _I’m—going to Columbia_ , she had said. _Of_ course _it’s hard_ , she had said. All of a sudden, everything seems to slot into place—like a key and a lock, like flowers and the months between spring and summer, like everything that feels _right_ in his life.

Jaemin takes a step forward. “You’re my in-ear assistant,” he says, grinning. “Aren’t you?”

“You’re Spider-Man,” she whispers, voice familiar and warm. She raises her eyebrows, eyes glinting in the sunlight. “Aren’t you?”

He’s imagined this moment several times, more of as an idle day-dream than anything else, but this defies expectation. Hyunjin isn’t new to him, but this—these two parts of her, together, not just as two separate existences— _this_ is a novelty that Jaemin never wants to tire of.

Taeyong raises his eyebrows. “Now that you kids have reunited,” he says dryly, “don’t you two have diplomas to pick up?”

Jaemin turns to Hyunjin, and the two of them walk out to their seats on the football field together.

“You don’t seem all that surprised,” she comments.

“I suspected,” he says. His eyes dart from her eyes to her lips, wanting to take all of it in. Already the day feels saturated with color, precarious and precious. Hyunjin is a study in contrasts: black hair and blue gown and brown eyes, everything bright.

“I wanted you to figure it out, at the end of it,” Hyunjin says. They’re close to the seats now. The nearby marching band plays music bordering on deafening; Jaemin can spot Jeno and Renjun’s profiles in the distance.

“Well,” Jaemin replies, “I’m glad that we did.”

He reaches out, grasping Hyunjin’s hand for a quick second before they split off to their respective seats. It feels like a promise rather than a temporary goodbye. 

 

 

 

“Where were you guys?” Heejin asks, once the ceremony is over. “Both you and Hyunjin were hella late.” They’re in the middle of smiling for their parent’s photographs. Jeno's doing the same just feet away, arm around Renjun's shoulders and eyes crinkling as he smiles for the camera. And Hyunjin... Wait, where the hell is Hyunjin?

“Uh…” Jaemin shrugs, arm around Heejin’s shoulder, teeth still gritted in a camera-ready smile. He resists the urge to turn around and look for Hyunjin. “Just hanging out, I guess.”

“Oh, just _hanging out,_ okay,” she replies, raising her eyebrows. “Isn’t that what they all say?”

"Maybe to you it means something else," Hyunjin says, coming up to stand between him and Heejin. Yep, she was behind Jaemin in exactly the right spot so that he can't spot her from behind, because she's devious like that. "But seriously, we were just running late."

"Yeah, what she said," Jaemin echoes. Hyunjin rolls her eyes, nudging Jaemin's shoulder gently.

"You don't sound convincing at _all_ ," she says softly.

"Aren't you the one who's the best at hiding things?" Jaemin replies. He can't help it; his gaze drops to her lips, then flits back up tentatively.

Hyunjin swallows audibly. "It's okay," she says, resting a hand on Jaemin's shoulder. Her hands feel small, almost warm, and it makes him wonder what her fingers would feel like if they were intertwined with his. 

"It's okay," she repeats. "There are a lot of things I don't have to hide anymore."

Jaemin raises his eyebrows. "Like what—"

"Hey, guys," Heejin says, waving a hand in front of their faces. Jeno, in front of them, is in the middle of conversation with Heejin's dad. From far away, it doesn't look too good. "Now that Jeno's here, you guys should stop," she leans closer to them so that their parents don't hear, " _flirting_ so we can get these photos over with."

"Sorry—" Jaemin replies.

"We weren't flirting—" Hyunjin says at the same time. She looks at Jaemin, eyes wide.

Heejin looks between the two of them, obviously confused. "Okay, I'll figure this out  _after_ the pictures." She turns towards their parents. "Dad, stop interrogating Jeno! Let's try to leave before the sun sets." 

Jeno comes over, and the four of them take turns smiling for the camera.

"How're you feeling?" Jeno asks Jaemin, the two of them standing shoulder-to-shoulder for one of the shots. Heejin's talking loudly with her dad about something; as it turns out, her dad doesn't disapprove of her relationship  _that_ much. Behind his mom, Hyunjin grins at Jaemin silently.

"Pretty damn good," Jaemin replies, returning the smile. For the first time in a while, his heart is truly at ease. 

**Author's Note:**

> someone else pls write the ot4 poly uni au sequel in which heejin & jeno learn of jaemin's identity T-T thank u lily for betaing this fic; thank u tlist for introducing me to the hyunjaem/heejen agenda... oops
> 
> [twt](http://twitter.com/mathmxrk) / [cc](http://curiouscat.me/mathmxrk) / feel free to leave concrit [here](https://markohmark.dreamwidth.org/2671.html)
> 
> and as always, comments & kudos are appreciated!


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